A total of 70 coalition soldiers and 10 times that number of Iraqis have been killed in clashes in Iraq since April 1, the US military said on Monday.  

Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, US-led coalition's deputy director of operations, gave the figure at a press conference here Monday.

"Coalition casualties since April 1 run about 70 killed in action," Kimmitt told reporters.

Casualties in the other side were "ten times that amount," he said, adding there were no reliable figures on civilian casualties.

"We would ask the Ministry of Health, once Iraqi control ... is allowed back in Fallujah, they can get a fair, honest and credible figure and not one that is somehow filtered through some of the local propaganda machines," the US general said.

The above figures are the first full casualty statistics released by the US military since the start of clashes between a radical Shiite militia and US forces on April 4.

(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2004)